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Too Much of a Good Thing?

Because of the storied basketball history at Kansas and the university's often-lofty national ranking, guard Jeff Hawkins has become accustomed to the revelry of opposing fans and their storming the court.

It happens so frequently that Hawkins and his Jayhawk teammates have a strategy to avoid the onrush of celebrating fans. "You've got to stay to the side," Hawkins, a fifth-year senior, said. "Otherwise, you'll get caught up in the stampede."

Hawkins recalls being part of such chaotic scenes on at least six occasions during his collegiate career. "You know it's coming," he said. "We know we've got to be ready for it, especially if we're at their home gym."

Although storming the court has long been a part of college basketball, it has become common enough that it has caught the attention of universities worried about safety.

It is even happening at the Division III level. Fans at Wheaton College in Illinois stormed the court after a victory over seventh-ranked Illinois Wesleyan on Feb. 11; it was Wheaton's second victory over a top-10-ranked opponent in four days.

"It's like standing in the stands is not enough," William Jonas, an 18-year-old freshman at the University of Missouri, said. He and hundreds of other students stormed the court Jan. 16 in Columbia, Mo., after the Tigers defeated bitter rival Kansas in overtime before a national television audience. "You've got to be down there with the players."

The issue has become so contentious that the National Collegiate Athletic Association will hold a conference concerning crowd control in April in Savannah, Ga. Conferences, universities and sociologists will participate.

"What you're seeing is a lot of copycatting going on right now," said Ron Stratton, vice president for education services for the N.C.A.A. "It doesn't have to be a very big deal, frankly, for folks to decide they can run on the court. What we're really trying to do is have a discussion as to whether, in fact, we can get some uniform ways to provide guidance for those institutions."

Stratton called it a "risk management issue" for colleges.

Maureen Smith, a past chairwoman of the Sport Sociology Academy of the National Association for Sport and Physical Education, said she attributed the prevalence of fans' storming the court to their yearning to be more involved in games.

"They can't be the player, but they can be a part of sort of that vicarious excitement of the victory," said Smith, an associate professor of kinesiology at California State University at Sacramento.

Of the N.C.A.A.'s 31 Division I conferences, the Southeastern Conference is believed to be the only one with a policy prohibiting fans from the areas where athletes compete.

It applies to all sports and was unanimously adopted by all 12 of its member institutions in December 2004, SEC Commissioner Mike Slive said.

The guidelines include fines from $5,000 for a first offense up to $25,000 for a second offense. A third offense or beyond can draw a maximum fine of $50,000.

"It forces and focuses the institution and all of its constituencies to confront the issue of why you would have the legislation in the first place," Slive said. "That is to protect players, coaches and fans."

Four SEC universities have been fined under the two-year-old policy, including Arkansas and Tennessee this season. Each college had fans take to the court after home victories against Florida.

About 25 students rushed the court at Arkansas' Bud Walton Arena on Feb. 18, when the Razorbacks beat the Gators, who were ranked 10th at the time. Arkansas was fined $5,000.

"I'm not sure the punishment was fit for the crime," Arkansas Coach Stan Heath said. "I think the SEC has taken a position that it's a black or white issue. If you come on, you get fined. In that situation, we didn't get our bang for our buck."

"It's one of those spur-of-the-moment things," Williams said. "Unfortunately, the rule isn't going to prevent it all the time."

Mark Fohl, athletic director at the University of Minnesota-Morris, said he understood the issue of fan safety all too well.

In October, a junior basketball player at Minnesota-Morris, Richard Rose, was among 18 people who ran onto the field after the homecoming football game. He was struck by a falling goalpost and died from head trauma.

Fohl said Minnesota-Morris, a Division II university, did not have any measures in place to restrict fans from playing fields but would support N.C.A.A. measures to do so.

"People rush out and I don't think they do consider the consequences of what could happen," Fohl said. "That's something we really need to work on with fans so that they understand how dangerous some of the things that they are doing can be. I don't think they've gotten that message very well."